Trends of poll for Maharashtra and Haryana assemblies on Wednesday set off celebrations in the BJP ahead of Diwali. Almost five months after the party took everybody by surprise to form a government at the Centre with a clear majority, the BJP expressed confidence about forming government in Maharashtra and Haryana on its own as well.
Congress has been ruling Haryana for two terms and has shared power with NCP in Maharashtra for 15 years.
“Popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi got converted into votes. We are getting absolute majority in the two assemblies,” BJP general secretary JP Nadda told reporters after polling ended.
The BJP had taken a plunge into the electoral battle in Maharashtra and Haryana without an ally. It dumped 25-year-old partner Shiv Sena in Maharashtra just a couple of days before the last date of filing nomination papers and ended ties with Haryana Janhit Congress in the northern state after a disagreement over seat sharing.
In Maharahstra the BJP wanted its share of 117 to be increased to 135, a demand that Sena did not concede to. Bishnoi who had an agreement with the BJP to contest 45 seats each left with BJP asking him to scale down it share to about a dozen of seats.
Modi was BJP’s star campaigner in these two polls and it had consciously decided not to project a CM face. The party addressed 715 rallies in Maharashtra and another 270 in Haryana. More than 9,000 meetings were organised in Haryana and Maharashtra each through specially designed ‘Digital Raths’.
{{/usCountry}}Modi was BJP’s star campaigner in these two polls and it had consciously decided not to project a CM face. The party addressed 715 rallies in Maharashtra and another 270 in Haryana. More than 9,000 meetings were organised in Haryana and Maharashtra each through specially designed ‘Digital Raths’.
{{/usCountry}}However, the Shiv Sena continues to be the part of the NDA at the Centre and the BJP is in no hurry to push it out of the ruling alliance. “We did not leave Sena, it was they who left us,” BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said.
A senior BJP leader said it was up to the Sena to decide whether they wanted to continue the alliance or not. BJP also shares power with Sena in several municipal corporations in Maharashtra.